In order to help tax authorities across the globe tackle tax evasion, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”) and the G20 together developed an international regulatory framework to promote tax transparency, known as the Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters (“AEOI”). It currently encompasses the Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) which covers the automatic exchange of financial account information and which over 120 jurisdictions have already implemented, including Switzerland and all other major financial centers. CRS entered into force in Switzerland on 1 January 2017, with the first exchange of information which took place in 2018. As of 1 January 2026, the AEOI framework will be expanded to include the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (“CARF”), introducing new due diligence and reporting obligations for crypto-asset service providers dealing with relevant crypto-asset transactions. The AEOI requires financial institutions and crypto-asset service providers to gather information about the tax status of their clients. In cases where the client is a tax resident in a jurisdiction with which Switzerland has signed an AEOI agreement, the Swiss financial institution or crypto-asset service provider will be required to report information on the client’s identity as well as certain account information to the Swiss Federal Tax Administration, which will subsequently exchange the information with the tax authorities in the partner jurisdiction (i.e. the client’s tax residence(s)).
With which countries has Switzerland signed an agreement for the AEOI?
For a list of jurisdictions that Switzerland has signed an agreement with for CRS, please refer to the Swiss State Secretariat for International Financial Matters SIF website.
The list of jurisdictions that Switzerland has signed an agreement with for CARF will be updated as soon as it is published on the Swiss State Secretariat for International Financial Matters SIF website.